Skully helmet offers motorcyclists extra eyes and more

Motorcycle helmets are an essential to safety for motorcyclists but founder and CEO Dr. Marcus Weller of the Skully AR-1 helmet thinks they can offer much more. After being in multiple motorcycle accidents himself he began hunting for a helmet that could offer him a rear-view camera, HUD directions and GPS – but he just couldn’t find one.

[Image Source: Skully]

“At the time, I didn’t even have a motorcycle, but I was ready to spend money on it, which made me realize that I needed to build it,” said Weller.

So that’s when Weller went to the drawing board and designed exactly what he wanted himself. The result is the Skully AR-1. After being in an accident in 2011 where he took his eyes off the road to read a sign, he wanted the rider to have an easier view and access to information. The AR-1 features a heads-up display just below the right eye that isn’t intrusive on your field of vision.

[Image Source: Skully]

The display can offer a 180 degree view of what’s behind you thanks to the ultra-wide rearview camera – meaning you won’t have to swivel your head and take your eyes off the road to see what’s behind you. The screen can also be used to display directions thanks to a built in GPS antenna. The image appears 10 foot in front of the rider and is said to be in focus regardless of where the driver is looking. They say this automatic infinitely variable focal distance is thanks to a technology they call the Synapse platform.

There is Bluetooth connectivity for your smartphone so not only can you easily make hands-free calls using the voice recognition software, you can also stream your favourite music service such as Pandora. The companion app ensures that the heads-up display is sitting in the optimal condition as no two riders will have the same head and face.

[Image Source: Skully]

Whilst the wide rearview camera offers a great solution to the blind-spot, we can’t help but wonder if the helmet could actually be a further distraction to motorcyclists. We will just have to wait and see. After 100,000 beta tester applications in 2013, Weller recently turned to crowd funding source Indiegogo to try and raise the funds he needs to get the helmet onto the marketplace by 2015 and boy did he do it. After setting a target of $250,000, the campaign has raised over $1 million. You can pre-order yours here for $1400.